Gallery: Building the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus’ Millennium Falcon

Krewe members inspect the Millennium Falcon float in their warehouse space, which they call "The Den."

Martin Childs detaches the quad laser cannon from the top of the float in order to add texture and detailing.

Texture for the Falcon was created by using disassembled computer parts, which were glued to the base and painted.

Veronica Sharkey puts the finishing touches on a banner, which will be carried ahead of the float in the parade.

Boxes of various craft supplies live throughout the space. This box specifically contained fur that was only to be used for banners.

Brennan Steele (right) shows off an emblem made of woven-together Mardi Gras beads, created by bead artist Marcu Ciko. "I made those and brought them down to the krewe meeting and they were just blown away," Ciko told Wired. "They took about 20 hours apiece."

Dennis Groome (right) and Brennan Steele work on the LED undercarriage lighting for the float.

Some of the LED lighting components for the float.

Bryanna Leger and Martin Childs look through a Millennium Falcon "instruction manual" to get an idea of the texturing required to create the illusion of a quad laser cannon for the top of the float.

Ryan Ballard and Brett Powers test out the comfortability of the throne as Bryanna Leger helps Brennan Steele fit a wedding dress for another parade.

Ryan Ballard walks to his car from the Den, through an industrial part of New Orleans.

New Orleans at night, as the fog rolls through.

NEW ORLEANS — The Millennium Falcon was originally supposed to be made from a golf cart.

When Ryan Ballard and his Mardi Gras parade organization Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus first set out to raise money on Kickstarter for a parade float to carry the original Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew and his wife, they thought a humble golf cart was the only vehicle base they could afford with their pledges. The plan was to create an amazing DIY centerpiece float on which the Mayhews — their king and queen — could ride in style during the group’s parade this Saturday.

“Right when we hit the goal I started shopping,” Ballard told Wired. “I knew that I wanted one of these Taylor-Dunn B-248s. … That was like the dream machine, but those are like 12 grand. It was out of budget, we needed to get a golf cart for like $2,000 and build on that.”

Then Ballard went on Craigslist — and hit the jackpot. He found a B-248 that someone was selling in Pearl River, Louisiana for less than $1,500. He called his Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus co-hort Brett Powers and the two headed out of New Orleans. When they came back, they had the basis for what might be the nerdiest Mardi Gras float ever built.

Ballard came up with blueprints and diagrams scaled up from a model of the Falcon from the Star Wars movies. Other members of Chewbacchus offered ideas and concepts and soon enough they were building — a process that’s taken some four months to complete

To give the Falcon its texture, the “krewe” broke down old computers and attached the parts to the exterior. To make it look as though it is flying, some 300 remote-controlled RGB LEDs were placed in the undercarriage. The throne for the Mayhews was upholstered with fur from DistinctiveFabric.com to make it look like a Wookiee, while slightly anachronistic Nintendo controllers sit atop the headlights. It’s covered in Chewbaccas and has a R2-D2 “hood” ornament. There is a Star Wars logo and a Rebel Alliance emblem made entirely out of Mardi Gras beads, a Millennium Falcon armrest and even an R2-D2 ashtray.

But according to Ballard, “The quad laser cannon really brings it together visually.”

Check out photos of the construction of the ultimate Mardi Gras nerd party ride in the gallery above.